All In A Day’s Work: From Armen

At the SMH land, chicken coup behind the cow

I should start by saying: please forgive me if it seems that my mind is everywhere… I assure you that it is.  You see, in the states, non-profit work is all about specialization - there is one task, and everything falls into place behind that one task.  I have found, however, that it pays to be a jack-of-all-trades here. 

Second Mile Haiti (the organization I’m here to work with) does have one mission: it is a center for the rehabilitation of malnourished babies and the education & empowerment of their mothers.  The singular mission is to bring severely under-nourished children to a healthy weight while simultaneously educating mothers in basic public health knowledge (everything from hygiene to nutrition) and basic business acumen, culminating in those mothers leaving with a healthier baby and a micro business that enables them to support that baby.  All-in-all, the program is really beautiful and really well executed.  That being said, in almost a month of being here, I have yet to work with mothers or babies… at all.

Which raises the question: what am I doing here?  So… to answer that question, I need to tell you a little more about this organization. Second Mile is a complex organism with multiple ongoing projects that all contribute to the main mission in a variety of ways.  

Agriculture: The land that the Second Mile compound is build on is attached to several acres of  tillable farmland, on which is being grown a variety of staple crops.  These include tomatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, peppers, cepina (a leafy green plant that is similar to spinach), moringa (if you don’t know about this tree, you need to google it… it’s a miracle tree), corn, sorghum and a variety of beans. This produce is then used in the meals cooked on the land (about 25% of the meals are made with our own produce) and the rest is sold in the markets for a profit which then goes to fund the payroll of Second Mile Staff. My Role: my role in this project is limited - aside from the occasional check-in, this project is managed by a team of gardeners who tend the land full-time.  We will, however, be working on a tracking system to help us calculate how much the land is producing and how much income it is generating (currently we just use pen and paper). 

Baby Alpine goat... no goats milk yet!

Animals: The land has several milk cows, over a dozen goats, and almost forty chickens (there were more, but a large number was recently wiped out by a virus).  We also have a recent addition of bees, which we got the first week Leah and I were here.  The cows provide milk for baby formula, and the chickens provide… well, eggs, which can then be sold or eaten (We’ve eaten a lot of eggs…).  My Role: There are no vets near us, so my role has been to take on part of the research in regards to animal care.  This includes, but is not limited to, animal nutrition, general health, required vaccinations, etc…. before you ask, the answer is no: I have no prior veterinary experience.  However my new favorite book has become Where There Is No Animal Doctor which is a very handy and user-friendly guide to animal care for the layperson.  No joke. 

Construction: There is a never ending list of construction projects to be completed on the land (by the time this is posted, there should be a few videos about construction progress up on YouTube).  Second Mile has a full-time construction boss (‘boss’ is the local designation for anyone with a specialized skill set… so there are construction bosses, and carpenter bosses etc) who is responsible for the multiple construction projects that are happening. My Role: these construction projects require a constant flow of construction materials - rebar, cement, nails, wood, paint, palm fronds (yes, palm fronds) etc.  For this role, I have been buddied up with an original employee of the organization: Harold.  Harold and I use the truck to haul in Palm fronds and take excursions into Cap-Haitian for all other supplies.

Those are some of the various outlets of the organization that I have my fingers in.  On top of all of this, I’ve been working closely with Jenn to create manageable weekly schedule - as you can imagine, with so many components, it’s easy to get distracted with a million little things throughout the day.  I’ll also be working to create their database (a mammoth task in it’s own right) for moms and babies, and making weekly micro videos to update everyone on what’s happening.  As I mentioned earlier, the first of these should be available for viewing by the time this blog is posted… click here to watch it...

The funny thing about all of this is that I am an authority on precisely none of the things I am working on… but neither is anybody else, and I have two resources that most people here don’t: time + Google.  Needless to say the days are full and there’s always a lot of work to be done or roadblocks to be overcome, but it keeps me on my toes, and for the most part, distracted from the little anxieties that come with cultural adjustment… honestly, I’ve never thought I would make a very good specialist, so I kind of love it. 

Things coming up include building a clay/brick oven, bread making, yogurt & cheese making (to sell), and many other things I'm sure...

And now some pictures for your entertainment:

Amy, our housemate, doing the shopping

Three men and an earless goat on a motorcycle... the norm

Easter Day: Streethearts kids at the Second Mile Land... easter bunny brought candy and all!

Where we have our Creole lessons twice a week, right by our place

And this is where we spent Saturday, at Paradi Beach... clear, warm water and fresh grilled lobster!!

What a day with moms and babes

So yesterday started early (for this formerly night-shift nurse)...
Out of the house by 8:20am, took my 10cent ride by public trans (a truck with benches in the back) to the birth center. Got there by 9am, and started measuring pregnant bellies and listening to fetal heart rates within the hour. Now-- about that, seeing "patients". As some of you may know, while doing my midwifery program in the US, I had serious concerns as to whether or not I would enjoy being a "provider" rather than a nurse-- which I thought meant spending less time with patients and more time charting. BUT, I have re-discovered my love for patient education and found that doing prenatal & postpartum visits means time with patients=time for patient education. And here I have all the time I want to answer questions about labor signs (does throwing up mean your water will break?) and assess a new mom's bathing skills (Me: How do you bathe your newborn?, Mom: In water with laundry detergent). Of course, all of this is done with the help of a translator.... and let me say here, I am VERY eager to learn creole. Armen and I started lessons yesterday, and we both reeeeeeally want to be competent in creole. Imagine trying to ask (in creole) how much for a motorcycle ride home, and getting an answer (in creole), and then trying to decide if you can bargain (in creole) for that ride home. It is not easy not speaking the language. It's a good lesson to learn.
Anyway, it was an interesting morning of prenatal & postpartum visits. But it didn't end there... got the chance to do a well-baby visit where the baby had lost over 300grams in weight over 4 days, looked very dehydrated and wasn't breastfeeding well, and when I listened to the baby's heart rate, realized she had a very pronounced heart murmur. One thing led to another and we we're referring her to the hospital for an echocardiogram, which hopefully she will get soon as she is only 4 days old and loosing weight rapidly.
Next thing you know, we have a mom in labor. One thing that has been really wonderful about being in a birth center is that it really has taken the fear factor our of labor. Yes-- skills in birth are VERY important when things go awry, but intervention is rarely necessary for most births. Most of the time you can just be there to support a mom having her baby, just getting the chance to "catch" her baby and re-unite them. So I got the chance to do just that, and even with thick meconium, the baby girl was born easily and I got to plop her on her mom's belly... with some drying and stimulation she perked up, and we didn't even cut the cord till the placenta delivered. To get to be with a mom who has the choice to labor as she wishes, either standing, walking, in the bathroom, or on a bed... and deliver her babe on a birthing stool, that is what is incredible to be a part of... especially in Haiti, a place where mothers are rarely offered this type of labor support. Clearly, I love what is happening here.
Shortly after the delivery, a mom who had been throwing up all day came in and needed an IV, and my nursing skills got good use. And once she was re-hydrated and felt better we sent her home, to come back soon when she had labor pains. 
So finally around 6:30 I got to head home, opting for a motorcycle ride home that would cost me 75cents. It was a quick ride home, and after a long day I was happy to get back to a meal and people who would hear my stories from the day.
All this to say.... I feel so blessed to get to be a part of the incredible work that MamaBaby Haiti is doing in their community. Working with the Haitian midwifes has been such a great experience, seeing from their compassion for laboring mothers and observing their skills in action. I have also been incredibly overwhelmed by the dedication of program directors and NGO's here, seeking to serve Haitians in unique and innovative ways. 
There really is so much to be thankful for. 
Love,
Leah

An introduction to Haiti

My walk to catch my ride home after a day at MamaBaby Haiti

What a week it's been... leaving California was a whirlwind... but in comparison Haiti has been a hurricane. We flew into the Dominican Republic and spent a night there before crossing the border, and shortly after Jen (one of the founders of Second Mile Haiti) picked us up at the border, we made our way to a nearby farm where we got an adorable baby goat... since then we have spent lots of time in the sun, on the farm, a morning on a beautiful Haitian beach, and lots of time figuring out our new job duties. Lots of time at the market too (there is no grocery store here!!) getting food, phones, and a fan. Busy to say the least.

Bee box!

So Armen is in full swing at Second Mile Haiti working with Jen, learning to take care of goats and chickens (and trying to figure out vaccines and parasite meds), planning for a bread oven, helping with the work/planning of the (HUGE) veggie garden/farm, and learning to work with the newly acquired bees (pic to left). We have LOVED getting to see the incredible work that Second Mile is doing with mom's and babies, and learning about the day to day operations. See some pics of whats been is going on lately here.

  

I (Leah) just started at MamaBaby Haiti, and saw a beautiful birth yesterday that made me so glad to be here. Birth in a different culture is really fun to see and participate in, as this young mama sang through her labor pains for hours... and since this is a birth center in its true form, she was walking, eating, and drinking as much as she liked. She even sat and rocked on a birthing ball for a while... and soon after, when she felt she needed to push, she had the caring hands of a midwife to catch her baby. All went well and it was so fun to do what I love (provide labor support!) in a place where women rarely get respectful and compassionate care in labor. Did you know that only 37% of women in Haiti have a skilled attendant at their birth, and that Haiti is ranked 34th highest in maternal mortality rankings worldwide? At MamaBaby Haiti they received free prenatal, labor, and postpartum care, helping identify those who need to be referred to the hospital for high-risk conditions, and allowing low-risk mothers to receive low-intervention, compassionate care at the birth center.

MamaBaby Birth Center- one of the birthing rooms

Anyway, since we will be here several months just wanted y'all to get a glimpse into our lives... but more important than that, a chance to see the amazing grassroots work that is taking place here in the Cap Haitian area, with efforts to serve and empower Haitian women and their families. We are happy here and loving it!

Leah & Armen